Chapter 340: Chapter 324 – A Massive Debacle

 

“Pride is the downfall of many a kingdom.” - Old folk saying.

From the opening moments of the battle, Aideen already noticed that it would likely end up less a battle and more a one-sided massacre.

 

When the human army had just allowed the orcish horde to approach them - probably waiting for the horde to attack first she thought - they had made a big mistake, and when some of their archers fired and failed to even reach the horde, all it did was to tell the orc how far the human arrows could reach.

 

That turned a big mistake into a fatal one.

 

Unlike humans, where those skilled at archery were typically limited to those whose livelihoods involved hunting, as well as the few trained archers a lord’s retinue might have, the orcish hunter-gatherer lifestyle meant that every orc, young or old, knew their way around a bow and arrow by heart.

 

If that was all, it would not have been so bad.

 

But orcish bows were generally larger than ones used by most humans, with greater pull weight to accommodate their greater physical strength. As a direct result of that discrepancy, not only did the orcish archers handily outrange and outskill the human archers, but there were also far more of them amongst the horde.

 

In fact, the only reason that not every orc within the horde carried a bow was that they did not have that many bows to go around.

 

It still meant that well over forty thousand orcs had a bow and arrows with them, and when all of them took aim and fired together, the resultant rain of arrows literally blot out the skies, so dense that just the sight of it likely had demoralized many of the human soldiers right then and there. That was all before the arrows even landed.

 

The arrows used by the orcs often only had arrowheads from sharpened stone or bone, but that was more than made up by the thicker, heavier shafts they used, which resulted in heavier arrows propelled with far more force than was typical. A direct hit at a good angle, even from outside the range of the human archers, still possessed enough power to pierce through the chainmail that the human knights wore.

 

While those fortunate - and rich - enough to possess plate mail armor weathered the storm pretty much unscathed other than a few who had the misfortune of having an arrow find its way into their eyeslits, the casualties from the volley towards the rest of the human troops were horrendous. At least a couple thousand people had died on the spot, with manyfold that number injured by the arrow.

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And that was all just the first volley.

 

When the second volley landed, some of the conscripts further off the sides of the formation dropped their weapon and fled in fear. The human commanders tried to keep them under control and yelled at them to return to their position with various threats, but to no avail. In fact those efforts often only resulted in the commander in question being pierced by many arrows as they left themselves open due to the distraction.

 

By the time the orcs loosed the third volley, the human army had unraveled and began to rout, something that was only exacerbated when the orcs had not stopped and launched another couple volleys of arrows at the reeling humans. Around that same time, Warchief Buknug did as he was bidden and took the majority of the orcish cavalry - more a hodgepodge mix of warriors on various mounts - together with the elvish and goblin contingent to chase down the fleeing enemies.

 

Despite them being on foot the elves and the goblins actually kept up with the mounted orcs for a good while. Elves were endurance runners by nature, so they easily kept up with the cavalry and hurled their javelins at the few humans who still tried to resist, with deadly effects. On the other hand, goblins were more sprinters, and while they could not keep up with the cavalry long-term, they did well enough for a short time, enough to get them into their own range.

 

Then the hundreds of goblins unhooked the slings they carried, whirled it over their heads, and hurled stones towards the fleeing humans, scoring few kills but causing disproportionate havoc with the sudden follow-up attack from behind.

 

The rest of the orcish cavalry simply plowed through what remained of the human formation, which was the last straw for the humans as they fell into complete rout a moment later. Aideen just watched from far behind as the mounted orcs and running elves beside them chased and cut down the fleeing humans without mercy, the battle practically over before it even began.

 

Orica also had the rest of the horde push forward, less to give chase and more to collect things that might be of use, like weapons and armor that were not too badly off. Arrows that were not too damaged were also collected by the advancing horde, as they could be re-used after some minor fixes. They also put down the few unfortunate humans who were too injured to escape but still clung on to their lives, unheeding of the pleas of mercy.

 

Aideen watched it all without blinking an eye, even as Celia beside her paled at the slaughter. Not even the discarded and often-stripped corpses of the human army bothered her. In her opinion, the humans had asked for this result when they not only tried to invade other people’s land, but also did so full of arrogance and overconfidence.

 

Whether the results of this massacre would hurt the Empire or caused them to react violently, Aideen had no idea. She thought it was unlikely, as given the makeup of the human army the expedition seemed more like several lords’ independent action rather than any sanctioned move from the Empire. Even so, she thought it would not hurt to warn Orica to prepare the orcs for further hostilities in the future, as the probability was there.

 

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